Special Happy Birthday to Jazzy Jay. Jay was and still is an inspiration to myself and the whole 238Beats team. Some of the best memories I have were at Jazzy Jay studio on Allerton Ave in the BX. Wishing Jay a happy 50th and another 50 years to come! #SALUTE
So the other night my partners and I were trying to put together top 5 list of the best rap groups of all time. We mentioned a lot of names...RUN DMC has to be at the top of the list. They took this game to another level. RUN DMC AND JMJ ...THE BEST TO EVER DO IT!
Shouts to Teddy Ted of the Awesome 2 for checking out the site today. Also shouts to Scratchmasta Jazzy G of the B Boys....legendary BX DJ who showed me mad love today on my site. Be on the look out for some of his classic tapes coming soon to my site. Check out the videos below...Peace to all the pioneers and always respect the CULTURE OF HIP HOP!!!
This is a special mix dedicated to Paul C. Below you will see his Wikipedia entry that gives you some background. I first heard about Paul C through my man Tarmel who lived out in Queens down the street from his studio. He was an underground legend. I was bugging on this tape as there is a track by Sport G & Mastermind called LOUDER that Paul mixed and engineered. The first real exposure that I had to producing was through Sport G. Shout outs to my man Darnell!. Read below and recognize the mans influence on Hip Hop.
Paul C. McKasty (September 20, 1964–July 17, 1989), better known as Paul C, was an East coast hip hop producer and engineer in the 1980s.McKasty began his musical career as a bassist for the pop rock band The Mandolindley Road Show.[1] After the group disbanded, Paul joined the hip hop group Mikey D & the L.A. Posse. He began working as a producer and engineer for numerous hip-hop acts. Paul C's best known work is for Ultramagnetic MC's 1988 classic debut album Critical Beatdown[citation needed] and the non-album singles the group released between 1988 and 1989. He only has one credit as a producer on the album for the track "Give the Drummer Some," but according to group member Ced Gee, Paul C was responsible for the overall sound of the album. Paul preferred to work without contracts so he often did not receive credit for his production work.
Paul C also worked for many other artists including Grandmaster Caz, Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud, Stezo, and Rahzel. He also served as a mentor to Large Professor in the use of the E-mu SP-1200. He overheard a recording session of a new local group named Simply Too Positive and offered to produce its entire demo. Simply Too Positive eventually became Organized Konfusion and its demo created a major buzz around the group. Paul C's status began to grow and he was hired to work for higher-profile artists. He produced tracks for Eric B. & Rakim's Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em. He was planning on producing more songs for the group and also for Queen Latifah, Biz Markie, and Large Professor's group Main Source. However, in 1989, Paul C was found shot to death in Rosedale, Queens, at the age of 24. His murder was featured on America's Most Wanted leading to the arrest of Derrick "Little Shine" Blair, who was later released due to lack of evidence.[2] The case has yet to be solved.
His protégé Large Professor took over production duties on much of the music Paul was working on before his death. He went on to become a well-known producer and emcee. Large Pro's publishing company is named Paul Sea Productions in honor of his late mentor.[3] Other top hip hop producers such as DJ Premier, Pete Rock, and Cut Chemist cite Paul C as an influence. Kool Keith, Pharoahe Monch, and Rahzel credit Paul C with helping them to grow as artists. A picture of Paul in appears in the liner notes of Let the Rhythm Hit 'Em and the album is dedicated to his memory (though his name is not listed in the production credits). The liner notes of Main Source's debut album Breaking Atoms includes the inscription "Paul C Lives". On Organized Konfusion's debut single "Fudge Pudge," the duo gives a shout-out that says, "Paul C to the organisms!" Critical Beatdown was re-released in 2004 with the non-album singles that Paul produced as bonus tracks. In 2006, an unreleased album by Mikey D & the L.A. Posse was released under the title Better Late Than Never: In Memory Of Paul C.
01. Intro 02. Atom- Main Source 03. Line for Line- Freak L 04. Sex, Sex, And More Sex- Spicey Ham 05. Girls I Got ‘em Locked- Super Lover Cee & Casanova Rud 06. The Ghetto- Eric B. & Rakim 07. Listen To The Man- Kev-E-Kev & Ak-B 08. Its My Turn- Stezo 09. We’re Back Y’all- Freddy B and the Mighty Mic Masters 10. God Made Me Funky- Too Poetic 11. Time To Get Paid- Heartbeat Brothers 12. Go G. Whiz- Captain G. Whiz 13. A Thing Named Kim- Biz Markie 14. Comin’ in the House- Mikey D and the LA Posse 15. Interlude 16. Give The Drummer Some- Ultramagnetic MC’s 17. Ladies First- Queen Latifah Feat Monie Love 18. Got To Get Paid- Live ‘n’ Effect Posse 19. Cooling One Day- Simply II Positive (Organized Konfusion) wow!!! 20. Stop The World- Black, Rock & Ron 21. Louder- Sport “G” & Mastermind 22. Pelon- 360 Degrees 23. Can’t Get Enough- Black By Demand 24. Outro
Much respect to Mark The 45 King, This is the man behind the Flavor Unit along with Latifah and Shakim. This is the man behind Eminem's "STAN" and Jay Z's " HARD KNOCK LIFE" This man also made the "900 Number" which Ed Lover used to dance to like a fool on Yo MTV Raps. This man is a lefend! Peep why they call him the 45 King.
Out of every artist I have ever met or worked with, Pun was the most down to earth and humble of them all. I first met him at a session I was at with Diamond D for a track he was doing with Pun for HOLA Records. Pun was not known yet but you could tell he was going to be a problem. In between him recording I approached him and told him I made beats. He took my tape and asked me " You Boriqua?" I said yeah. He said " Im going to listen to this EXTRA HARD!!' He wound up picking like 3 tracks off my tape that he wanted to record for his first album, but Joe told him he needed to only work with big name producers on his first joint. Joe was his manager and I remember Pun was not too happy when he told me he couldn't use the tracks again. We still stayed in touch and we recorded a few joints at D&D one night when he came trough to a session I was doing with another group. He did a verse on like two joints and we just kicked it there till like 5am. I remember one time when I was working with this young Dominican girl from Dyckman on an r&b project. Pun wanted to meet her and asked me to meet him at his house on Howe Ave in the Bx. I was supposed to be there by like 1pm and wound up getting delayed and did not get there till 3 or so. I pulled up to his house thinking that Pun bounced but he was in his car with his kids and Liza his wife waiting on me. He was like " Yo Chris I waited for you man see! I ain;t bounce on you!' I apologized and introduced him to the girl. He spoke to her for a second and as soon as she walked back to my car he asked me " Yo you fucking her?" I was like " Nahh man lol" He said " Yo you should be B!'" I stayed in touch with Pun after his album came out and while he was working on his 2nd. I heard on the radio that he passed as I was driving and I shed a tear man. He was one of the last real rappers and one of the best to ever do it. RIP PUN. This is a collection by DJ Books of all classic Pun verses.
89.9 WKCR broadcast live from Columbia University, was one of the most classic hip hop radio shows ever!. It used to come on from 1 to 4 am on Thursday nights and people used to stay up just to listen. Stretch and Bobbito broke almost every new artist in the 90's. I had the privilege of being on the show with my group The Desperados one night. We were on with an artist named Cage. They played a record that had all kind of kung fu sound effects and everyone was laughing and buggin out like WTF!!. That record was Protect Ya Neck by the WU. That was another classic night for me. Watch this documentary.
This a must have..PERIOD! Premo cuts up James Brown classics as only he can. This is not your run of the mill mixtape. Premo goes in with some rare and classic JB. Check it out!
I remember my man Sha called me early in the morning to tell me BIG had been killed. I could not believe it man. I immediately turned on HOT 97 to get more info. I don't even have to get into what BIG meant to hip hop and at that time to the east coast. I remember thinking that Suge was behind this and still feel that way today. My man Chris from Gun Hill projects in the Bronx had a notebook with some of Biggies rhymes and an order for clothes that Big made for his first tour. Big had been to his apartment before he was on with Dan Tanna who used to work for Uptown. Chris brought the notebook to my house and the lyrics for Party & Bullshit, Juicy and a few other joints were in the book. He also had 8 Karl Kani jeans, 7 pairs of Timberlands and some other things written down as well. Little did Chris know that he had a piece of history in his hands. He kept it though and probably still has it to this day. Anyway, this is the Hot 97 tribute to Big. RIP big
The day Pac passed , I was at Firehouse Studios doing a session. Firehouse was a legendary studio in NY where a lot of hit records were recorded. I was working with a group I was producing and Lil Dap from the Group Home was in the session as well. My manager at the time hit me on the 2 way to tell me that she heard from someone on the West Coast that Pac just passed. In NY it hadn't been announced yet. I remember telling Dap that Pac had died. The whole room got quiet and was hoping that the info was wrong. Ir wasn't. I got to see Pac and Biggie perform together at the Tunnel one Sunday night, right after Pac got out on bail for the rape case he caught at Nells. Big was still coming up and was on stage with Pac. I remember Pac telling the crowd " don't trust these scandalous ass hoes or these trifling bitches!" I was standing right next to Dj Whiz from Kid N Play and we both just looked at each other like " wow!" Then Biggie performed Party & Bullshit with Pac dancing in the back. Thats a night that I will never forget. I wasn't really a huge Pac fan, but I always respected his work ethic and his creativity. Ice T once told me that at a party out in LA, there was a shooting at a club they were at and everyone was running out to the parking lot. Pac grabbed Ice and was trying to get him to go BACK into the club to see what was going on. Ice T said from that point he made a mental note in is head and labeled Pac a "fool". lol He didn't mean it in a bad way just thought that he liked to look for trouble sometimes. Anyway, here is the live Hot 97 tribute to Pac. Monie Love was on Hot at the time and reads a poem Pac wrote and breaks down at the end. Check it out. RIP TUPAC
The Lost Boys was one of the best groups to come out of the 90's. They represented South Jamaica Queens and were more than a rap group.. they were a movement. Freaky Tah was more than a hype man. He brought the energy and that extra spark that fit like a glove with Mr. Cheeks delivery. On March 28, 1999, at a birthday party for Mr. Cheeks, Freaky Tah was shot in the head while exiting the Sheraton Hotel in Queens. Tah was taken to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 4:20 am, at the age of 27. This dedication was done right after he passed. This is when Mr.Cee and Mr Magic were working together on Hot 97. RIP
Shout outs to DJ SOUL for this. I had this tape and lost it years ago. Soul posred it and I had it on a cpu that crashed so I thought I lost it. Lucky that I backed up the hard drive on a disk and I just found it. This is when James Brown was locked up. Capri made this as a tribute to James and this is a VERY rare tape that is hard to find. Man I miss 125st when they had the tape vendors all over the place! Shout to Rock & Wills! This is a collectors item type of tape so COP IT!
Shouts to the people at Deep House Page. While I was looking for some history on Grandmaster FlowersI came across the piece below. This man opened for James Brown @ Yankee Stadium in 1968. He is a pioneer that is not talked about as much as he should be. Read below and you will understand the importance of paying respect to the people that started this culture:
I'm in the midst of building with my man Troy from Uptown/Harlem, In regards to Troy doing a dedication interview/Article, On Grandmaster Flowers from Brooklyn, GrandMaster Flowers, Was one of the first cats to rock on the Dj Circuit in New York, Going back to 1969(QJ From Brooklyn, Along with Pete Dj Jones), Were the first cats to rock throwdowns on the Dj circuit in New York
Via the parks circuits, Going back to the mid/late 60's, The First time that i remember seeing Grandmaster Flowers rock live, Was in the summer of 1975, At Riis Beach in Queens(Near the Brooklyn/Queens Borderline), Riis Beach and Rockaway Beach, Were the spots in Queens, Where cats such as Grandmaster Flowers,Maboya,Pete Dj Jones,Dj Plummer,The Smith
Brothers,Etc, Used to rock throwdowns, During the early 70's to early 80's, Grandmaster Flowers influenced mad cats to become Dj's, Such as, Karima Robinson(Who was the first cat to mix at Tribeca's, On North Moore St, Near West Broadway, During the mid to late 70's), Francios K,Big Bob(Empire Skating Rink in Brooklyn/Rip),Flash(Grandmaster Flash),Etc, All of us, Who
love the Dance music scene, Owe mad respect to the memory of Grandmaster Flowers to The ninth power, My man Troy, Has more than a few interviews lined up, On Jayquan's site(The Foundation/jayquan.com), Here's some words from Paradise from XClan, As told to my man Markskillz(Wax Poetic's magazine), In regards to Grandmaster Flowers, Which was very sad, Along with being very uplifting too, Also, The Battle between Flash
(GrandMaster Flash vs Grandmaster Flowers), Took place at The Stardust Ballroom in The Bronx(Boston Road and Fish Ave in the Bronx), In 1979, I was not at the Battle between Flash and Grandmaster Flowers, But, I did hear that Flash was doing alot of tricks(Cutting,Scratchin,Rocking the breaks of plates,Etc, While Grandmaster Flowers was Mixing and Blending plates(Rockin
The breaks of plates too), Now, If Flash would have battled Grandmaster Flowers, In regards to rocking a spot allnight to the morning lite, In regards to mixing and blending, Opposed to doing tricks, Shit, I Most definitely know who would have took the prize back to Brooklyn that night(WORD/LOL).
The story I wanna get is Grandmaster Cameron Flowers. EZ Mike told me that Flash and Flowers battled once in the late 70's and Flash whupped his ass! They gave Flash a trophy for that battle. But Flowers really respected Flash.
Back in the 90's the name Grandmaster Flowers was just an urban legend. As you've written on your tape list Troy, Flowers died because of his addiction, he lived his last days as a panhandler. Paradise of X CLan told me this story:
"In Brooklyn, Flowers was to brothers in Brooklyn what Kool Herc was to brothers in the Bronx. Everybody loved and followed Flowers. Lumumba (Professor X - God Rest His Soul) loved Flowers!
One day we were either coming off tour or going on tour. The group was really blowing up. We were riding around midtown Manhattan, when all of a sudden Lumumba said, "Stop the car!"
All Lumumba could say was "Oh stuff...oh stuff!'
He got out and walked toward a brother with a sign in his hand. The guy was really down on his luck and was in bad shape. He bought him back to the car and introduced him to us. He said, 'This is Grandmaster Flowers!"
Lumumba was speaking to us about the jams and how hard Flowers used to rock and then he looked at him and lunged at him. I had to hold him back. Lumumba was crying, he kept saying, 'How could you do this to yourself? How could you do this to yourself! Don't you know that your responsible for all of this we're doing now!"
We cleaned Flowers up and took him on tour with us, he was our sound man."
Yo fellas, I saw X Clan a few times back in the day, I had no idea that the dude that was setting their equipment up was the legendary Grandmaster Flowers, the man that bears the distinction of being of one of - if not THE first Black mobile disc jockey in New York City to mix (blend) records as we know it today.
